Saturday, May 12, 2018

Review: Idlewild

GPS: 40.262589, -79.276311
Address: Idlewild & SoakZone, 2574 U.S. 30, Ligonier, PA 15658
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Meet and Greet with Daniel Tiger
Pros
  • Little kids can join parents on most rides
  • Lots of spaces for preschool age kids
  • Plenty of active play areas
  • Seem to be play spaces with limited entrance and exits to make it easier to keep track of your kids
  • Variety of food onsite
  • Refillable drink cup options
  • Crowds seem manageable (when we have been there especially on the extra bring a buddy days)
Cons
  • Park is pretty old and some areas really show their age
  • Sometimes their staff is limited causing rides or booths to be closed (especially when the local schools go back in late august)  
  • Food onsite is pretty pricey (combat this by bringing your own or getting the season meal pass)
Cleanliness
  • Its pretty clean but older so some areas seem dingy even though there is not trash littered around
Adult Info
  • The younger your kids are the more they will enjoy themselves
  • If your older kids like water parks they will probably be happy as well 
Access
  • There are gravel paths and some steeper inclines in areas so be area when we have our stroller they suggest going in via the parking area immediately to the left after the gates.
  • Some of the restrooms are smaller (due to their age) and you might need to be aware of that.
  • Wave pool is a zero entry pool as far as I could tell from passing by it.
  • They do have wheelchair rentals available. 
Restrooms
  • There are plenty of restrooms around but some are older so they are little and kind of dingy (but they free of trash)
Misc
  • We enjoy this park with our toddler.  I like using the bring a buddy days to drag along friends and relatives that are not sure the park is worth it.  
  • We had passes several years ago with our older daughter one year.
  • We have had passes for 2017 and 2018 with our toddler.  
  • I purchased one of the 2018 All Season Dining Pass on Black Friday for $69.99 I will try and report back on the value of this as the season goes on.  Comment below if you have any questions.
  • There is a Chick-Fil-A about 30 minutes before you get to the park (coming from the west) and we would get sandwiches and put them in a cooler and have after we spend a couple hours in the park.  
  • We tend to get to park at opening and stay until 3-5pm so we can make it a day trip (we drive about an hour and 40 minutes to get there)
Pricing
  • At the gate price is $44.99 - DON'T pay that you can get it as low as $29.99 for just ordering online before you go or a 4 pack starting at $114
  • Season passes start for just $59.99 (This is a great option if you are planning on going a couple times during the summer)
  • If you plan to go during the week you can get the platinum or gold pass and use the buddy passes for someone in your family.  (Example family of 4 could get 2 gold passes for $74.99 each and take 2 trips (Monday - Friday) and end up paying $18.75 each for the two trips.  If you can squeeze a trip on the extra bring a buddy days you can keep bringing that price down.
  • You can always pay the price difference to the next level of pass and get more buddy passes.  NOTE:  I bought a pass on Black Friday and upgraded it and they only charged me the current difference from the price of my current pass to the one I upgraded.  So don't worry if you get a great Black Friday deal you don't lose any of that discount.
  • Towards the end of the season they will offer discounts to purchase a season pass for the following year and you get the rest of the current year.  I actually renewed my summer only pass at the end of august to the gold level season pass for next year and got buddy passes for the current year and next year.
  • In 2017 my summer only pass was also given access to the fall leaf weekend for no additional charge (September weekend but not the Hallowboo weekends.) So make sure you follow them on Facebook and check to see if any additional bonuses have been added to your passes.
  • Tickets and Passes

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